Was it this Circe thread? Scroll down to post #26 I believe. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/359457-how-does-one-provide-a-classical-education-circe-institute-lovers/page__hl__+ignatian?do=findComment&comment=3724424

We are going to be buying a new microscope soon and I found this guide online. There is a lot of information, but he does a great job explaining the differences. I thought I'd share since I've seen threads in the past about microscopes. http://www.greatscopes.com/microscope.htm Brenda

I am floored about how many INFJs there are as well! When I saw the percentage, my jaw dropped because INFJs are hard to find. I am not one for going out and socializing a lot so I guess that is not a big surprise. I love people, but man can they wear me out! :) Brenda

My son is a VSL. I second the PP who mentioned Leapfrog dvds. After the Letter Factory and Word Factory, I used a free phonics program. Instead of having them read off of papers, I used a magnetic dry-erase board with the markers and also magnetic letters. They loved it! I really like RightStart, but I couldn't accelerate it fast enough for my son so we switched to Singapore with him and that is going well. You should check out this website if you haven't already: http://www.visualspatial.org/

It looks interesting...thanks for the link! My dh and I love this kind of stuff too! :)

How did I miss this in my search a couple of months ago?! We are thinking about a trip to Utah to go look for fossils with our kids in addition to some awesome mountain biking for my hubby. I see it is recommended for 8 and up, but my ds tends to like non-fiction books that are for older kids anyway. :) Thanks for posting this! We have the ipad version of this book and the kids really like it. http://www.amazon.co...ywords=dinosaur

We are about to start reading these books so this thread is great timing for me! Now off to look at the suggestions! Thanks!

:lurk5:

I second the Thornton Burgess animal stories. You can get them online for free if you do a search.

I agree the price is steep so I waited for a sale. Everything else in my homeschool room is IKEA so we splurged on the desks and chairs. :)

I bought my kids desks (Smart Jr.) and chairs from this site. They LOVE them and so far, so do I. :) I'm not affiliated in any way. http://www.reo-smart.com/

I have 5 yr old twins. We read a LOT to the kids and always have. At least one time during the day, I get to pick what we read which is currently the Red Fairy Book. In the beginning, we used Leapfrog Letter Factory and Word Factory dvds for about a couple of weeks each. I then used the lessons that ElizabethB made up for Webster's Speller (available at donpotter.net) and Blend Phonics...all for FREE. I am amazed at the beauty in learning those first Webster's syllables (ex. DA, DE, DI, DO, DU, DY) and THEN teaching them phonics with syllable division rules and spelling along the way! I wish I had been taught this way. We started out really slow though because my kids started to sight read at 3ish and I knew I wanted them to learn using phonics so I scrambled! :) The time we spend is about 15 minutes, 3-5 days a week. I break up the lessons into 2 and sometimes 3 sections depending on how long the lesson is. Now we are about to go back into Webster's for the long haul since we just completed Blend Phonics. No supplements needed although the kids did do Starfall every once in awhile.

I have 5 yr old twins. We read a LOT to the kids and always have. At least one time during the day, I get to pick what we read which is currently the Red Fairy Book. In the beginning, we used Leapfrog Letter Factory and Word Factory dvds for about a couple of weeks each. I then used the lessons that ElizabethB made up for Webster's Speller (available at donpotter.net) and Blend Phonics...all for FREE. I am amazed at the beauty in learning those first Webster's syllables (ex. DA, DE, DI, DO, DU, DY) and THEN teaching them phonics with syllable division rules and spelling along the way! I wish I had been taught this way. We started out really slow though because my kids started to sight read at 3ish and I knew I wanted them to learn using phonics so I scrambled! :) The time we spend is about 15 minutes, 3-5 days a week. I break up the lessons into 2 and sometimes 3 sections depending on how long the lesson is. Now we are about to go back into Webster's for the long haul since we just completed Blend Phonics. No supplements needed although the kids did do Starfall every once in awhile.

Off to go read those blog pages since I've been thinking about attending myself! Thanks!

My kids started sight reading on their own around 3. I immediately started a phonics program, but I did the writing for them and I got a magnetic dry erase board, magnetic letters/numbers, and plenty of dry erase markers. They loved using the magnetic letters! My now 5 year old son is very sensitive as well. A couple of great websites are SENG, HOAGIES, Gifteddevelopment.com. A couple of books that I like are Emotional Intensity (if your son has any of that going on), A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children. There is also a gifted homeschooling yahoo group, but you will find a lot of great information here as well. Play is still really important and this age. We started out using RightStart A. I love it. It is a very scripted program. The problem I had for my son who just "gets" math was that it was much harder for me to accelerate. He was getting very bored! Since it was a different style of math than how I learned, I wasn't comfortable just skipping ahead and I was afraid that I would miss some basic foundation needed for a later lesson. I switched over to Singapore and added the Challenging Word Problems (awesome!) with him and that is so much easier because he doesn't need a ton of review. It's a wild ride! Enjoy! :D Brenda

I definitely don't want to deal with a bedbug problem. We go every other week. I think our book budget just went up a couple of notches. Ugh.

I told my friends that if they needed to test out their baby/child proofing, just let me know and I would bring over my b/g twins. I had a 2 yr old climber as well who I caught swinging from the dining room chandelier in the time it took for me to take a quick restroom break so I get it. I don't know if this is even an option for you, but I put pull locks on all lower cupboards and doorknob covers on all doors. All outlets had the sliding covers instead of those ones that you can pull out. That is a rough time with kids who are on the go! Wishing you the best with whatever you decide.

:eek: I can't imagine posting a classified ad for a baby. There are agencies that handle them and do background checks, interviews, etc. This sounds scary.

We just bought the Casio PX850. It just came out and will be delivered next week. I did a lot of research on the forums at Pianoworld.com. I was looking at Costco too, but what you've heard here is true. Look for 88 hammer-weighted keys. There are many options out there! At some point I would love to invest in an acoustic piano, but only if any of my kids stick with it long enough. :) I bought ours at AmericanMusicalSupply.com and with a purchase over $250 (I believe), qualified buyers can have 5 or 8 payments at 0% financing. That allowed us to get something nicer. I think Magiciansfriend.com has a similar policy. Do not forget to look for coupon codes online. I got free shipping, no CA sales tax and 10% off as well. The sales tax and 10% off saved us almost $200. Good luck with your search! Brenda

We are doing our official K year so I am not a veteran by far, but I also did homeschool preschool if that counts. :tongue_smilie: I think the main thing is to do what works for you. I wasn't planning on starting phonics or handwriting last year, but my kids started reading and writing on their own so I had to scramble to catch up so to speak. The other subjects that I included were kumon (cutting, pasting, etc), art, cooking with mom, library, etc. It sounds like a lot, but our everyday subjects were math, phonics, handwriting, and LOTS of snuggle up reading and play. Everything else I have on a loop and am totally laid back about. I feel like the kids (both of mine are 5) really need a lot of play time to just do their own thing and learn how to entertain themselves which they are doing. It's easy to look at others and see what they are doing and second guess, but I always think back to what I did in K, which was like preschool is now. That helps me keep it in perspective. :) Brenda

I forgot! I remembered someone else asking about what to do after Snap Circuits and someone recommended this website. It's Electronics Labs for homeschoolers. http://www.quickstudylabs.com/ Brenda Note: Just saw it is not secular so wanted to state that here.

We have a decent old microscope that my dh used growing up and we would like to get some already prepared slides. I'm looking for some recommendations as someone on Amazon said they thought Celestron slides were better than Amscope. I thought I'd see if anyone here had any thoughts. Brenda

My husband said if she likes snap circuits and wants to take the next step, he suggests looking into breadboard projects as you don't need to know how to solder. There are books of projects you can do, kits, etc. Do a search online and you will find a ton of info. His resource as a kid was Radio Shack, but he said it's not the cheapest place to find this stuff now because of the internet. :) Brenda

That makes sense.

My husband takes the kids out for a few hours usually once a week. About once a month, he takes them for the day to Balboa Park, the beach, in-laws or whatever. He knows I absolutely need the recharge time at home, by myself. What's the saying...if mom isn't happy, nobody is happy. :) Brenda